Students brawl at Gallery Place Metro station (Video)

The brawl took place Friday at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)

WASHINGTON – A brawl Friday afternoon at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station in downtown D.C. involved a large crowd of young people and led to a handful of arrests, authorities say.

Fox 5 reports the fight started at about 4 p.m. while students were heading home from school and may have been the result of an ongoing rivalry between students at two D.C. high schools.

“There was a conference call prior to this fight where we were advised of the potential for youth disorder,” Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel tells Fox 5. “We actually had additional officers at Gallery Place.”

Despite the added police presence, the brawl grew too large and the officers were forced to call for backup. About a half-dozen juveniles were arrested, Fox 5 says.

The chief of Metro Transit Police reportedly is working to set up a meeting with D.C. police and school officials in the wake of the incident.

Fox 5 says there was also a fight at Union Station Thursday, and investigators are working to determine whether the two incidents are connected.

Footage of the fight is below (Warning: Contains language some may find offensive):